Persian Theology Quotes

“To Judaism Christians ascribe the glory of having been the first religion to teach a pure monotheism. But monotheism existed long before the Jews attained to it. Zoroaster and his earliest followers were monotheists, dualism being a later development of the Persian theology. The adoption of monotheism by the Jews, which occurred only at a very late period in their history, was not, however, the result of a divine revelation, or even of an intellectual superiority, for the Jews were immeasurably inferior intellectually to the Greeks and Romans, to the Hindus and Egyptians, and to the Assyrians and Babylonians, who are supposed to have retained a belief in polytheism. This monotheism of the Jews has chiefly the result of a religious intolerance never before equaled and never since surpassed, except in the history of Christianity and Mohammedanism, the daughters of Judaism. Jehovistic priests and kings tolerated no rivals of their god and made death the penalty for disloyalty to him. The Jewish nation became monotheistic for the same reason that Spain, in the clutches of the Inquisition, became entirely Christian.”
― John E. Remsburg, Christ

“Hope had only revealed herself to him when he was immersed in darkness”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, The Rise of Shams

“The timepiece had been a birthday gift from Arian, his nineteen-year-old cousin in Tehran. It was plastered with pastoral steel and had the Faravahar hieroglyph sketched on it. This ancient pictogram was the symbol of a guardian angel. A remnant of a primeval daemon designed to protect the Persians. The clock’s circumference was decorated with the flowers of life and in the middle there was a scripture written in cuneiform that read Good Deeds, Good Thoughts & Good Words.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, The Rise of Shams

“With a rose garden blanket thrown on her legs that matched her roosari, her scarf, she ran her liver-spotted hand across her left arm and said, “A hunter in Lorestan was hunting for wild goats. He spots one and chases it into a cave. He waited outside until the goat came out of the cave. When the goat finally comes out, he shoots it in the head and it dies on the spot. He approaches the goat and sees it had a wet goatee. He immediately knew there was water in the cave. So he went inside and after a fifteen-minute drop to the bottom he discovers a carved room filled with gold. There was so much gold that he could build an entire house with it. He starts to go back to the cave day by day to collect the gold. The people in his village figured there was something suspicious going on with the hunter so a few of them followed him once. They then discovered the hidden gold too. They all agreed that since he never shared it with the rest of the tribe, he should be killed. They killed him and started to take the gold themselves. Eventually all of the villagers dispersed throughout the country and the gold was nowhere to be found. Some say it is abroad and some say it is scattered all over the country. But what do I know? I never saw it because I lost both my eyes during the war.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“Her heart began to beat like fingers tapping on a daf, the Iranian equivalent of a large tambourine.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“Amir then showed off his moonwalk prowess as he started to walk backward toward Tara again.

Tara closed her eyes and laughed. She took a sip from her glass and said, “Divaneh!”

“I am crazy. Crazy for you!” Amir said with eyebrows raised and still dancing in his spot.

Tara sat on the edge of the bed, glass in hand and with the other smoothed a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Did you know that Persian demons did everything backward?” she said.

“Did they now?” Amir replied still dancing.

“They did. The word for demons, div, comes from the Avesta language meaning ‘a spirit or deity personifying evil.’ They were creatures that wreaked havoc.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really,” Tara replied with a smile. “And we’ve got Ferdowsi and the old Persian language to thank for the word divaneh too.”

“So are you telling me that I’m a demon?” Amir didn’t get where Tara was going as he walked back toward the dressing table.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“Capitalism, a deep-rooted belief in religion, and engrained superstition: that is the Persian mindset’s holy trinity today.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“The eternal fire, the atar, Atash long ago extinguished in the spirit of many. This little flame was a poor imitation of that never-ending flame the Persians have revered for thousands of years.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish